The attacks of Al-Shabaab have been portrayed as a fight between Kenyans and Somalis. Though perhaps politically convenient, characterising Al-Shabaab as a Somali problem that can be solved through actions that target the Somali population ignores the evidence.

Yesterday I spent the day in Dadaab refugee camp, a camp in Kenya near the Somalia border. A camp which has swelled to the size of Bristol. I was both inspired and heart broken by what I saw and heard.

In Ethiopia, some 44,000 Somali refugees are scattered among four refugee camps, living in the arid heat on parched land. Most of these refugees survive on one meal a day and are dependent on humanitarian aid.

Dadaab demonstrates the inadequacy of the refugee regime to live up to the ideals of its own international treaties. Currently, 300,000 people live in Dadaab and many have been there for nearly 20 years.